Landscapes & Nightscapes by Luis Argerich

Lobos

Lobos is town located 100km away from Buenos Aires. The Lagoon is a short ride from the town of Lobos. It’s a good place for fishing, water sports, bird watching and, why not, some photography.

To be able to see some birds it’s important to arrive early. Autumn & Winter are good times since the weather is fair and the sun rises not so early. This picture was taken at 8:35am and the Sun was just rising over the trees behind the lagoon. This is a good time for flamingos, herons and other birds that feed on this lagoon.

Where the old Pier Was

This picture shows the remains of the old wooden pier during a draught. After some rains the level of water can reach half the height of the posts that are closer to the camera in the picture. The old pier was destroyed during a storm and was never rebuilt, the posts were left in its place and a new pier made of concrete was constructed near the place.

When the water level is low you can go down to the lagoon base and walk around the old pier pilons, that is exactly what I did for the next picture.

Frozen in Time

This was a daytime long exposure using a ND400 filter. I liked the steel blue effect in the water. I’ve tried to get the same effect at this very same lagoon several times without much success. I think two elements combined to make this shot work, one is that the lagoon was extremely calm, not a single tiny wave could be seen and that is rare at this location. The second key is that the water was lit by the blue light of the sky with the sun hidden behind thick clouds. Only the blue sky lit the water and the stillness made the long exposure render as a blue mirror.

So what kind of clouds are thick enough to hide the sun but not big enough to cover the sky?

A Very Special Cloud

I’m not sure what kind of clouds the picture shows but it looked like a big monster. The base of the cloud was really low and soft with ondulations. The top couldn’t be seen from the lagoon but I guess it was quite high.

The clouds were very interesting the day of the shot and the stilness of the water was suitable for reflections.

Reflections at Lobos

This is one of my favorite shots from Lobos. The clouds were very nice and the boats were just floating around randomly -I don’t know why- the scene was perfect for a reflection shot. I figured I would want to print this big so I composed the shot as a panorama. It was made from six shots, two rows of three shots each. If you want to call this some name I would say it’s a vertorama-panorama as it is similar to a vertorama only that each shot in the vertorama is made of 3 pictures instead of one.

Boats on the Lagoon

This picture is not a long exposure just a normal one so it shows the incredible stillness of the water on that morning. I’ve never seen the boats randomly spread over the lagoon again.

Portal to the Lagoon

I believe that visiting the same places again and again is a great exercise for photographers and even if I’ve been to Lobos several times I think I still have work to do with that lagoon. I plan to be back again in the winter and see what the place has to offer.